1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an accelerator pedal apparatus which is applied for a vehicle such as an automobile, and in particular, relates to an accelerator pedal apparatus including an active control mechanism which draws driver's attention by varying operational reaction force against accelerator pedal operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, accelerator pedal apparatuses including an active control mechanism which draw a driver's attention by varying operational reaction force against accelerator pedal operation have been developed and applied for vehicles such as automobiles. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-111379 proposes an accelerator pedal apparatus capable of achieving miniaturization with a simple structure, allowing a hysteresis generating mechanism and an active control mechanism utilizing a torque motor as a drive force to surely function in an independent manner, and performing active control with a quick response.
FIG. 8 is a graph indicating relation between a rotational angle of a torque motor and motor torque according to the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 8, the torque motor has a characteristic that the outputted motor torque varies in accordance with the rotational angle of the torque motor even when the same current is applied. Therefore, for generating desired motor torque by utilizing the torque motor as a drive source of the active control mechanism, it has been required to arrange a motor position sensor (MPS) which detects the rotational angle of the torque motor and to ascertain the rotational angle of the torque motor at the time when a reaction force generation command is inputted from an upper device, as in the accelerator pedal apparatus of Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-111379. Accordingly, there is a problem of high cost.